Aircraft maintenance is the performance of tasks required to ensure the continuing airworthiness of an aircraft or aircraft part, including overhaul, inspection, replacement, defect rectification, and the embodiment of modifications, compliance with airworthiness directives and repair. [1] [2]
The maintenance of aircraft is highly regulated, in order to ensure safe and correct functioning during flight. In civil aviation national regulations are coordinated under international standards, established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The ICAO standards have to be implemented by local airworthiness authorities to regulate the maintenance tasks, personnel and inspection system. Maintenance staff must be licensed for the tasks they carry out. [3]
Major airworthiness regulatory authorities include the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Transport Canada (TC) and Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
Aircraft maintenance in civil aviation generally organized using a maintenance checks or blocks which are packages of maintenance tasks that have to be done on an aircraft after a certain amount of time or usage. Packages are constructed by dividing the maintenance tasks into convenient, bite-size chunks to minimize the time the aircraft is out of service, to keep the maintenance workload level, and to maximize the use of maintenance facilities. [4]
An engine failure can significantly impact operations and revenue. A programme of calculated pre-emptive engine changes, sometimes referred to as "power by the hour", provides budget predictability, avoids installing a loan unit during repairs when an aircraft part fails and enrolled aircraft may have a better value and liquidity.
This concept of unscheduled maintenance was initially introduced for aircraft engines to mitigate engine failures. [5] The term was coined by Bristol Siddeley in 1962 to support Vipers of the British Aerospace 125 business jets for a fixed sum per flying hour. [6] A complete engine and accessory replacement service was provided, allowing the operator to accurately forecast this cost, and relieving him from purchasing stocks of engines and accessories.[ citation needed ]
In the 1980s, Rolls-Royce plc reinstated the program to provide the operator with a fixed engine maintenance cost over an extended period of time. Operators are assured of an accurate cost projection and avoid the breakdowns costs; the term is trademarked by Rolls-Royce but is the common name in the industry. [7] It is an option for operators of several Rolls-Royce aircraft engines.[ citation needed ] Other aircraft engine manufacturers such as General Electric and Pratt & Whitney offer similar programs. [8] [9]
Jet Support Services provides hourly cost maintenance programs independently of the manufacturers. [10] GEMCO also offers a similar program for piston engines in general aviation aircraft.[ citation needed ] Bombardier Aerospace offers its Smart Services program, covering parts and maintenance by the hour.[ citation needed ]
At the completion of any maintenance task a person authorized by the national airworthiness authority or delegated organization signs a maintenance release stating that maintenance has been performed in accordance with the applicable airworthiness requirements. A maintenance release is sometimes called a certificate of release to service (CRS). [3]
In the case of a certified aircraft this may be a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, Designated Airworthiness Representative – Maintenance (DAR-T) or holder of an EASA Part-66 Aircraft Maintenance License (AML), while for amateur-built aircraft this may be the owner or builder of the aircraft. [11]
In some countries the Secretary of State may authorise a maintenance organization to grant the certification privilege to staff on their behalf.
The ICAO defines the licensed or rated role of aircraft maintenance by a technician, engineer or mechanic), allowing that each contracting state may use whichever of these terms it prefers. [12] Although aircraft maintenance technicians, engineers and mechanics all perform essentially the same role, different countries may use these terms in different ways to define their individual levels of qualification and responsibilities.[ citation needed ]
Most national and international licensing bodies make a division between the roles of carrying out repair and maintenance on the one hand, and certifying the vehicle or subsystem or component as flightworthy, on the other. ICAO requires that the certification privilege be a delegated function of the nation's responsible Secretary of State. The Secretary of State may authorize another organization to grant the certification privilege to staff on their behalf. [12]
In Europe, licensing is governed by EASA Part-66. A person directly licensed to certify flightworthiness is a holder of a Part-66 AML (Aircraft Maintenance License). [13]
In many other countries, including Australia, Bangla Desh, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa, a person directly granted the privilege of certification is a qualified AME (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) or Licensed AME, also written as LAME or L-AME. [14] (Unlicensed mechanics or tradespersons are sometimes informally referred to as "Unlicensed AMEs" [15] )
In the US and elsewhere in the Americas, a person rated for aircraft repair and maintenance is a qualified AMT (aircraft maintenance technician), or, colloquially, Airframe and Powerplant (A&P). [16] A person directly designated to exercise the privilege of certification for the work is a DAR-T (Designated Airworthiness Representative – Maintenance). [17]
Roles may be further divided up. In Europe aircraft maintenance personnel must comply with Part 66, Certifying Staff, issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). This regulation establishes four levels of authorization:
The Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) Market was US$135.1 billion in 2015, three quarters of the $180.3 billion aircraft production market. Of this, 60% is for civil aviation: air transport 48%, business and general aviation 9%, rotorcraft 3%; and military aviation is 40%: fixed wing 27% and rotary 13%. Of the $64.3 billion air transport MRO market, 40% is for engines, 22% for components, 17% for line, 14% for airframe and 7% for modifications. It is projected to grow at 4.1% per annum until 2025 to $96 billion. [18]
Airliner MRO should reach $74.3 billion in 2017: 51% ($37.9B) single-aisles, 21% ($15.6B) long-range twin-aisles, 8% ($5.9B) medium-range twin-aisles, 7% ($5.2B) large aircraft, 6% ($4.5B) regional jets as turboprop regional airliners and 1% ($0.7B) short range twin-aisles. [19]
Over the 2017–2026 decade, the worldwide market should reach over $900 billion, led by 23% in North America, 22% in Western Europe, and 19% in Asia Pacific. [20]
In 2017, of the $70 billion spent by airlines on maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), 31% were for engines, 27% for components, 24% for line maintenance, 10% for modifications and 8% for the airframe; 70% were for mature airliners (Airbus A320 and A330, Boeing 777 and 737NG), 23% were for “sunset” aircraft (McDonnell Douglas MD-80, Boeing 737 Classic, 747 or 757) and 7% was spent on modern models (Boeing 787, Embraer E-Jet, Airbus A350XWB and A380). [21]
In 2018, the commercial aviation industry expended $88 billion for MRO, while military aircraft required $79.6 billion, including field maintenance. [22]
Airliner MRO is forecast to reach $115 billion by 2028, a 4% compound annual growth rate from $77.4 billion in 2018. [23]
Major airframe manufacturers Airbus, Boeing and Embraer entered the market, increasing concerns about intellectual property sharing. Shared data-supported predictive maintenance can reduce operational disruptions. Among other factors, prognostics helped Delta Air Lines reduce maintenance cancellations by 98% from 5,600 in 2010 to 78 in 2017. [24]
Insourced maintenance can be inefficient for small airlines with a fleet below 50–60 aircraft. They have to either outsource it or sell its MRO services to other carriers for better resource utilization.
For example, Spain's Air Nostrum operates 45 Bombardier CRJs and ATR 72s and its 300-person maintenance department provides line, base maintenance and limited component repair for other airlines 20% of the time. [25]
Airframe heavy maintenance is worth $6 billion in 2019: $2.9 billion for C checks and $3.1 billion for D checks, Aviation Week & Space Technology forecasts a growth to $7.5 billion in 2028 — $3.1 billion C and $4.2 billion D — for $70 billion over 10 years, 10% of the overall market compared to 40% for the engines. [26]
The commercial aviation engine MRO market is anticipated by Aviation Week & Space Technology to be $25.9 billion in 2018, a 2.5 billion increase from 2017, led by 21% for the Boeing 737NG' CFM56-7B and the A320's CFM56-5B and IAE V2500 (also on the MD-90) tied for second, followed by the mature widebody engines: the GE90 then the Trent 700. [27]
Over the 2017–2026 decade, the largest markets for turbofans will be the B737NG's CFM56-7 with 23%, the V2500-A5 with 21%, the General Electric GE90-115B with 13%, the A320's CFM56-5B with 13%, the PW1000G with 7%, the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 with 6%, the CF6-80C2 with 5%, the CFM LEAP with 5% and the General Electric CF34-8 with 4%. [20] Between 2018 and 2022, the largest MRO demand will be for CFM engines with 36%, followed by GE with 24%, Rolls with 13%, IAE with 12% and Pratt with 7%. [28]
As an aircraft gets older, a greater percentage of its value is represented by its engines. Over the course of the engine life it is possible to put value back in by repair and overhaul, to sell it for its remaining useful time, or to disassemble it and sell the used parts, to extract its remaining value. Its maintenance value includes the value of life-limited parts (LLPs) and the time before overhaul. The core value is the value of its data plate and non-life-limited-parts. [29] Engine makers deeply discount their sales, up to 90%, to win the multi-year stream of spares and services, resembling the razor and blades model. [30]
Engines installed on a new aircraft are discounted by at least 40% while spare engine values closely follow list prices. Accounting for 80% of a shop visit cost, LLP prices escalate to recoup the original discount, until engine availability increase with aircraft teardowns. Between 2001 and 2018 for the Airbus A320 or the Boeing 737-800, their CFM56 value increased from 27–29% to 48–52% of the aircraft value.
The 777-200ER's Pratt & Whitney PW4000 and the A330-300's Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines rose from a share of 18–25% in 2001 to 29–40% in 2013. For the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, between 52% and 57% of their value lies in their engines: this could rise to 80–90% after ten years, while new Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 engines are worth 36–40% of the aircraft. After some time the maintenance reserves exceed the aircraft lease. [31]
Between 2019 and 2038, 5,200 spare airliner engines will be required with at least half leased. [32]
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry.
The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the family was followed by the longer A321, the shorter A319, and the even shorter A318 . Final assembly takes place in Toulouse in France; Hamburg in Germany; Tianjin in China since 2009; and Mobile, Alabama in the United States since April 2016.
The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with the A330 twinjet. In June 1987, Airbus launched both designs with their first orders and the A340-300 took its maiden flight on 25 October 1991. It was certified along with the A340-200 on 22 December 1992 and both versions entered service in March 1993 with launch customers Lufthansa and Air France. The larger A340-500/600 were launched on 8 December 1997; the A340-600 flew for the first time on 23 April 2001 and entered service on 1 August 2002.
The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was announced in 1990 to challenge the dominance of the Boeing 747 in the long-haul market. The then-designated A3XX project was presented in 1994; Airbus launched the €9.5–billion ($10.7–billion) A380 programme on 19 December 2000. The first prototype was unveiled in Toulouse on 18 January 2005, with its first flight on 27 April 2005. It then obtained its type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on 12 December 2006.
The Airbus A318 is the smallest and least numerous variant airliner of the Airbus A320 family. The A318 carries 107 to 132 passengers and has a maximum range of 5,750 kilometres. Final assembly of the aircraft took place in Hamburg, Germany. It is intended primarily for short-range service.
The CFM International CFM56 series is a Franco-American family of high-bypass turbofan aircraft engines made by CFM International (CFMI), with a thrust range of 18,500 to 34,000 lbf. CFMI is a 50–50 joint-owned company of Safran Aircraft Engines of France, and GE Aerospace (GE) of the United States. GE produces the high-pressure compressor, combustor, and high-pressure turbine, Safran manufactures the fan, gearbox, exhaust and the low-pressure turbine, and some components are made by Avio of Italy and Honeywell from the US. Both companies have their own final assembly line, GE in Evendale, Ohio, and Safran in Villaroche, France. The engine initially had extremely slow sales but has gone on to become the most used turbofan aircraft engine in the world.
CFM International is a Franco-American aircraft engine manufacturer. The company is a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1974 to build and support the CFM56 series of turbofan engines. CFM is the world's largest commercial aircraft engine manufacturer, with a 39% market share as of 2020. It has delivered more than 37,500 of its engines to more than 570 operators. The name CFM is derived from the two parent companies' commercial engine designations: GE's CF series and Snecma's M series.
Safran Aircraft Engines, previously Snecma or Snecma Moteurs, is a French aerospace engine manufacturer headquartered in Courcouronnes and a subsidiary of Safran. It designs, manufactures and maintains engines for commercial and military aircraft as well as rocket engines for launch vehicles and satellites.
Aircraft maintenance checks are periodic inspections that have to be done on all commercial and civil aircraft after a certain amount of time or usage. Military aircraft normally follow specific maintenance programmes which may, or may not, be similar to those of commercial and civil operators.
The Rolls-Royce Trent 800 is a high-bypass turbofan produced by Rolls-Royce plc, one of the engine options for the early Boeing 777 variants. Launched in September 1991, it first ran in September 1993, was granted EASA certification on 27 January 1995, and entered service in 1996. It reached a 40% market share, ahead of the competing PW4000 and GE90, and the last Trent 800-powered 777 was delivered in 2010. The Trent 800 has the Trent family three shaft architecture, with a 280 cm (110 in) fan. With a 6.4:1 bypass ratio and an overall pressure ratio reaching 40.7:1, it generates up to 413.4 kN of thrust.
The Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 is a high-bypass turbofan engine produced by Rolls-Royce, one of the two engine options for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, competing with the General Electric GEnx. It first ran on 14 February 2006 and first flew on 18 June 2007 before a joint EASA/FAA certification on 7 August 2007 and entered service on 26 October 2011. Corrosion-related fatigue cracking of intermediate pressure (IP) turbine blades was discovered in early 2016, grounding up to 44 aircraft and costing Rolls-Royce at least £1.3 billion.
Jat Tehnika is a Serbian aerospace company providing aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. The company is based at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and provides services for Air Serbia and other airlines across Europe.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering – the maintenance, repair and operations center of TAP Air Portugal airline – is located at Portela Airport, Lisbon, Portugal.
The Pratt & Whitney PW1000G family, also known as the GTF, is high-bypass geared turbofan produced by Pratt & Whitney. Following years of development and testing on various demonstrators, the program officially launched in 2008 with the PW1200G destined for the Mitsubishi SpaceJet. The first successful flight test occurred later that year. The PW1500G variant, designed for the Airbus A220, became the first certified engine in 2013. The program cost is estimated at $10 billion.
FL Technics is a global provider of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania. The company has Base Maintenance facilities in Lithuania and Indonesia and provides Line Maintenance support across Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
The Airbus A320neo family is an incremental development of the A320 family of narrow-body airliners produced by Airbus. The A320neo family is based on the previous A319, A320, and A321, which was then retrospectively renamed the A320ceo family.
Delta TechOps is the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) division of Delta Air Lines, headquartered at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. With more than 9,600 employees and 51 maintenance stations worldwide, Delta TechOps is a full-service maintenance provider for the more than 900 aircraft that make up the Delta Air Lines fleet. In addition to maintaining the Delta Air Lines fleet, Delta TechOps also provides MRO solutions and support to more than 150 third-party operators around the world, making it the second largest MRO provider in North America and the seventh largest worldwide.
AerSale, Inc. is a Doral, Florida-based global supplier of aftermarket commercial jet aircraft, engines, used serviceable materials, and aeronautical engineering services to passenger and cargo airlines, government entities, leasing companies, multinational OEMs, and independent MROs.
The New Midsize Airplane (NMA), or New Midsize Aircraft, is a concept airliner proposed by Boeing to fill the middle of the market segment.
This is a list of aviation-related events in 2018.
Maintenance Minute videos are produced by GE Aviation's training team to help the aircraft maintainer with everyday engine maintenance tasks.